MIDA officials say they’re prioritizing workforce housing as part of their development plans in Wasatch County.
The state agency is made up of appointed, not elected, officials. Much of MIDA’s development in Wasatch County is part of Deer Valley’s East Village resort expansion project. Of the almost 1,400 new hotel rooms planned, 100 are reserved for veterans and members of the military.
During its meeting Tuesday, June 11, the MIDA board approved the purchase of one of the buildings in the Pioche condo development, just north of Deer Valley’s Jordanelle gondola.
The building’s 42 units will be set aside for “moderate income housing,” as MIDA spokesperson Kristin Williams said.
“Starting with Pioche, the intent is very much to be able to house our local workforce, whether they’re working at the resort or they’re teachers or educators or firefighters, nurses,” she said.
Some conditions are baked into the agreement.
The units cannot be used for nightly rentals for at least five and at most 10 years. If MIDA pays off the deed in under 10 years, the restrictions will be lifted sooner.
And MIDA has a planned agreement to lease about a third of the units to the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley for its workers for two years starting this July.
“As they’re going to be bringing people in to get the hotel started up, they needed a place for them to stay,” MIDA legal counsel Richard Catten said.
In partnership with Extell, the developer of the Deer Valley resort expansion, Williams said MIDA also anticipates building up to 600 units of affordable housing in Marina West. That’s on the east side of U.S. 40 next to the Jordanelle Reservoir.
That eastern site is adjacent to capped ground contaminated by silver mining. Extell cleaned the mining remnants from the west side of the highway, home to Deer Valley's resort expansion.
Preliminary plans for the Marina West housing complex will be submitted later this summer to MIDA’s Development Review Committee.
Williams said the number of units will exceed what code requires.
“We’re getting closer and closer to opening up this whole area,” she said. “We just all recognize the need for housing, and that’s why it doesn’t matter what requirements are anymore – we’re going to do what we need to do and house our own.”
The plans for additional workforce lodgings come as buyers continue to purchase luxury housing in MIDA’s Wasatch County area.
Extell CEO Kurt Krieg told the MIDA board on Tuesday 54 of the 55 private residences within the Grand Hyatt in the Deer Valley expansion are already sold.
